Various toothbrush designs have been employed in the past for cleaning teeth of food deposits, plaque and other undesirable contaminants. However, a certain percentage of the population have, as shown in FIG. 1A, a dental brace 10 mounted on their teeth (only one of which is shown) for orthodontic reasons. Typically, such dental braces include a bracket 14 mounted on each tooth 12 and a metal wire or chain 16 that connect the brackets. The wires and chains are spaced from the exterior of the teeth. Food deposits, plaque and other contaminants have an undesirable tendency to accumulate in the space between the dental brace and the exterior surface of the teeth, with obvious adverse health effects. Conventional toothbrush designs (as at 18) typically include an elongated handle (not shown) terminating in a head portion 20. A plurality of bristles 22 are mounted on the head, commonly in groups or tufts arranged into a pattern of multiple rows and columns. The toothbrush is constructed so that the head portion is inserted into a mouth with the bristles coated with toothpaste (not shown) or the like and presented perpendicularly to the side of the tooth. The tooth is cleaned by a reciprocal upward and downward motion (as at 24) of the bristles.
However, in the case of teeth having a dental brace mounted on them, conventional toothbrush designs are inadequate. That is, the perpendicular orientation of the bristles with respect to the teeth prevents the bristles from penetrating between the dental brace and the teeth. As is shown in FIG. 1B, the width and thickness of the conventional toothbrush head make it difficult if not impossible to rotate the bristles so that they are parallel to the teeth, and even if this is accomplished, the multiple rows of bristle tufts prevent the innermost row of tufts from penetrating between the dental brace and the teeth. Even inclining the head with respect to the handle of the toothbrush cannot overcome this inherent limitation of existing designs.